Akinari Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Akinari - Essay Example The danger arises because the limitations on conduct circumscribed by gender boundaries are breached by the overflow of passion. The story of â€Å"Bewitched† is the story of a white snake that appears in the forms of a beautiful woman and bewitches a young man. The beginning of the story itself subtly suggests the conflict that is set to play out through the course of the story. A young man, Toyo-O, sees a beautiful young woman at a temple during a sudden rain shower and lends her his umbrella. But a little later in the same episode, a mysterious serpent appears, subtly alluding a connection between the beautiful woman and the serpent. In Japan, snakes are regarded as animals of witchcraft and sorcery who are possessed by their owners, but who nevertheless search for victims to consume, hurt and possess, causing these victims a great deal of harm and pain (www.anime-myth.com). The presence of the snake - which is a symbol of pain for a victim - at the very beginning of the story, itself suggests that there is more to the beautiful woman than meets the eye. She is very beautiful, but the snake associat ion suggests that she may also be dangerous. Akinari’s story â€Å"Bewitched† is premised upon folklore about rejection transforming a lovesick woman into a malicious, deadly serpent. Akinari has used this as the basis to approach his story from a slightly different perspective: â€Å"If jealousy can transform a woman into a serpent, then love can turn a serpent into a woman.† (Akinari, 635). The beautiful woman is not in fact merely a woman, she is actually a serpent that has transformed itself into a woman in order to be near the man she loves. In essence, the story cautions a reader about the pitfalls and disaster that could befall a man who fails to show prudence and circumspection in his daily conduct and adopts a non-traditional gender